''The Tempest'' is a 1979 film adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play of the same name. Directed by

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...

, produced by

Don Boyd Donald William Robertson Boyd (born 11 August 1948 in Nairn, Scotland) is a Scottish film director, producer, screenwriter and novelist. He was a Governor of the London Film School until 2016 and in 2017 was made an Honorary Professor in the Col ...

, with

Heathcote Williams John Henley Heathcote-Williams (15 November 1941 – 1 July 2017), known as Heathcote Williams, was an English poet, actor, political activist and dramatist. He wrote a number of book-length polemical poems including ''Autogeddon'', ''Falling ...

Prospero Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''. Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to se ...

, it also stars

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English musician, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays an ...

Jack Birkett Jack Birkett (11 June 1934 – 10 May 2010) was a British dancer, mime artist, actor and singer, best known for his work on stage as a member of Lindsay Kemp's theatre company, and in the films of Derek Jarman. He was often billed as Orlando ...

, Karl Johnson and

Helen Wellington-Lloyd Helen Wellington-Lloyd, also called Helen of Troy, is an actress originally from South Africa. She is most notable for being a follower of punk band Sex Pistols in the late 1970s, attending most of their shows until their breakup. She was also o ...

from Jarman's previous feature, ''

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

'' (

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

Plot

The magician Prospero tosses and turns in his sleep while a violent storm tosses a ship on the ocean. Prospero awakens with a start as lightning strikes the ship, and summons his servant, the spirit Ariel. Ariel tells Prospero the details of the storm, which was an illusion he created at Prospero's command to lead the King of Naples (Alonso) and his crew to the island and trap them there. Prospero's daughter, Miranda, wakes up and joins her father in his study and they discuss their pasts. Caliban, Prospero's other servant, interrupts their conversation, and Prospero stomps on his fingers and threatens to punish him. Caliban explains that he is the rightful owner of the island, and that Prospero enslaved him after he taught Prospero how to survive on the island. Miranda goes back to sleep, and Ariel announces that the ship is safely hidden. He tells Prospero that the King and his son, Ferdinand, have been separated by the wreck. Prospero instructs Ariel to bring Ferdinand into the house. Ariel goes to Ferdinand, who has emerged naked from the sea, and lures him towards the house with a song. Ferdinand enters the building and goes to sleep by the fireplace. Prospero, Ariel, and Miranda find him sleeping and Prospero promises Ariel his freedom in two days’ time for bringing him to the house. Prospero accuses Ferdinand of being a spy, and Miranda vouches for his innocence. Prospero gives Ferdinand clothing and permission to sleep in Caliban's quarters, promising to put him to work after he has rested, and shackles his ankles. Miranda asks Prospero about their past, and he reveals that he was once Duke of Milan, but turned his governing duties over to Antonio so that he could study magic. He explains that Antonio overthrew Prospero and, with an order from Alonso, Prospero and Miranda were exiled to the island. Prospero shows Miranda a vision of their past in the crystal of his

sceptre A sceptre is a staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia. Figuratively, it means royal or imperial authority or sovereignty. Antiquity Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia The '' Was'' and other ...

, and reveals that the storm was created so that he could exact revenge upon Alonso and Antonio. Meanwhile, Alonso and the other shipwreck survivors find and enter Prospero's house. Following the sound of music, they wander into an empty ballroom. They are attacked by imps who hiss and bite at them. Ariel appears and reminds them of how they wronged Prospero in the past, and they become frozen in stasis and covered in cobwebs. Prospero sees Miranda and Ferdinand share a kiss, as the two have decided to marry, and announces that Ferdinand's forced labour was a trial to prove himself worthy of marrying Miranda. Prospero permits their union and frees Ferdinand from servitude. Prospero and Ariel use their magic to create an elaborate

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

around the frozen Alonso and the others. Sailors dance around the room frantically, and Miranda and Ferdinand appear in wedding attire. Prospero awakens Alonso and the others from stasis, reuniting Ferdinand with his father, and forgives the others for their past betrayals. The Goddess appears and sings a rendition of “ Stormy Weather” while everyone looks on. The film ends with Prospero and Ariel alone in the study. Ariel sings Prospero to sleep, and then runs away. Prospero directly addresses the viewer through voice over narration, announcing that “these revels now have ended”, and the credits roll.

Cast

Peter Bull Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British character actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', ''Tom Jones'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''. Biography He was the fourth and youngest son o ...

as Alonso (King of Naples) *

David Meyer David Meyer (born 24 July 1947) is an English actor. He is the twin of Anthony Meyer who has often appeared alongside him in film. He is best known for his role as a knife-throwing circus performer and assassin in the 1983 James Bond film ''Octo ...

as Ferdinand * Neil Cunningham as Sebastian *

as Prospero *

as Miranda *

Richard Warwick Richard Warwick (29 April 1945 – 16 December 1997) was an English actor. He was born Richard Carey Winter, the third of four sons, at Meopham, Kent, and made his film debut in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in the r ...

as Antonio * Karl Johnson as Ariel *

as Caliban *

Christopher Biggins Christopher Kenneth Biggins (born 16 December 1948) is an English actor and television presenter. Early life Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of William and Pamela Biggins. He was brought up in Salisbury, Wiltshire, attended St P ...

as Stephano * Peter Turner as Trinculo *

Ken Campbell Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Campbell achieved notoriety in the ...

as Gonzalo *

Elisabeth Welch Elisabeth Margaret Welch (February 27, 1904July 15, 2003) was an American singer, actress, and entertainer, whose career spanned seven decades. Her best-known songs were " Stormy Weather", " Love for Sale" and "Far Away in Shanty Town". She was ...

as A Goddess The film features cameos by Claire Davenport as Sycorax, Kate Temple as Young Miranda, and

and Angela Wittingham as The Spirits.

Production

Development

Jarman had been working on adapting ''The Tempest'' for several years before filming began, working on an adaptation for the stage before settling on a film adaptation. He was attracted to Shakespeare's original play due to the themes of forgiveness he saw throughout the text. He was concerned with creating a film that struck a balance between aspects of theater and aspects of film, and reworked the text so that his version would not be a straightforward adaptation of the play. Jarman stated in his production notes that "I hope to capture something of the mystery and atmosphere of the original without descending to theatrics. There are films where magic works."

Style

The film was shot inside Stoneleigh Abbey,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

. Jarman chose the location due to budget constraints, as the abbey created the atmosphere he wanted without needing access to an expansive or exotic set. The costuming draws on the styles of multiple eras, meant to serve as "a chronology of 350 years of the play’s existence, like the patina on old bronze." The combination of styles is made to reference the production history of the play as well as draw on modern aesthetics familiar to 20th century audiences. In his production notes, Jarman states that he took stylist inspiration from films such as '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968) and films produced by

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve class ...

. Jarman utilizes blue filters and

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

narration, including the sounds of heavy breathing, to emphasize the film's dream

framing device Framing may refer to: * Framing (construction), common carpentry work * Framing (law), providing false evidence or testimony to prove someone guilty of a crime * Framing (social sciences) * Framing (visual arts), a technique used to bring the focu ...

Text

A large amount of Shakespeare's original text is cut from this adaptation, with Jarman restructuring and reordering the lines he kept for the screenplay.

, who played Miranda, said: "Derek cut out the boring bits, which I'm very grateful for, because Shakespeare doesn't half gabble on." Jarman employs

cut-up technique The cut-up technique (or ''découpé'' in French) is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. The concept can be traced to the Dadaists of the 1920s, but it was developed and populariz ...

in this restructuring, most notably moving the masque sequence from act 4 of Shakespeare's text to the end of the film, and spreading out expositional dialogue over the course of the film, instead of limiting it to the early scenes as the play does.

Release

Critical response

The film was well received by most of the prominent film critics on its release in Britain. It holds an 80% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on an aggregate of 5 reviews.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave the film a negative review, calling it "sand in spinach" and "a fingernail scratched along a blackboard". The film garnered criticism from scholars such as Kate Chedgzoy and

Colin MacCabe Colin Myles Joseph MacCabe (born 9 February 1949) is an English academic, writer and film producer. He is currently a distinguished professor of English and film at the University of Pittsburgh.

for Jarman's choice to forgo the common post-colonial interpretation of the play by casting the roles of Caliban and Sycorax with white actors. Jarman responded in interviews, stating that he believed that following the common interpretation would "load the whole film one way, make it more specific than general."

Home media

The film was released in 2008 by

Kino International The Kino International is a film theater in Berlin, built from 1961 to 1963. It is located on Karl-Marx-Allee in former East Berlin. It hosted premieres of the DEFA film studios until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today it is a protec ...

as part of ''The Derek Jarman Collection'', a four DVD box set. The set features Jarman's ''

Sebastiane ''Sebastiane'' is a 1976 Latin-language British historical film directed by Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress and written by Jarman, Humfress and James Whaley. It portrays the events of the life of Saint Sebastian, including his iconic martyrdom by ...

'' (1976) and '' War Requiem'' (1989), as well as

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and distinguished professor of the arts at UC Santa Cruz. Early life Julien was born in the East End ...

's 2008 documentary ''

Derek Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of '' Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name ar ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tempest, The 1979 films 1979 drama films Films directed by Derek Jarman Films based on The Tempest 1979 LGBT-related films Films set on islands Films shot in Warwickshire LGBT-related adaptations of works by William Shakespeare 1970s English-language films 1970s British films